


Halcyon Days

by Carrie_Poppins



Series: Aliens Amongst Us [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Feels, Fluff, Gen, Married Couple, Married Life, Mother-Son Relationship, Quintessence-Sensitive Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:35:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25918945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carrie_Poppins/pseuds/Carrie_Poppins
Summary: A prequel-ish story to Aliens Amongst Us, written as a series of one-shots exploring the Kogane family and the complexities of growing up on an uncontacted planet with a human dad and an alien mom.
Relationships: Keith & Keith's Father (Voltron), Keith & Krolia (Voltron), Keith's Father/Krolia (Voltron)
Series: Aliens Amongst Us [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1880875
Comments: 37
Kudos: 55





	1. Prompts

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone who hasn't read Aliens Amongst Us, the idea of this AU is that Krolia remained on Earth instead of returning to the Blades, so Keith was raised by both of his parents. You don't have to read the first story to understand this one, but I would still recommend it.

Hello, friends!!

So as I mentioned at the end of Aliens Amongst Us, I'm going to turn this AU into a series! I'm in the process of writing my outline for continuing the story, but in the meantime I'm going to write this story as a prequel-esque series of drabbles and one-shots about the Kogane family in this AU. I have a number of ideas for scenarios and stories to explore, but I am also opening up the comments here for you guys to send me prompts! They can be scenarios you'd like to hear about (like one person wanted to know what Halloween is like in the Kogane family) or one or two-word prompts to get my creative juices flowing. What do y'all wanna know about little Keith and his life with his parents? I am excited to hear what you come up with!

~Carrie Poppins


	2. Halloween

“This is a bad idea,” Krolia muttered, fingering her helmet nervously, her heart racing.

“C’mon, it’ll be fine!” Kolt grinned back as he parked his bike outside the station.

“I can’t believe you talked me into this.”

“I toldja it won’t matter today.”

“I am literally about to walk into a room full of humans in full uniform.”

“An’ none of ‘em’ll be the wiser for it!” Kolt just grinned, swinging off of the bike. 

“Kolt, I am literally dressed as a  _ Galra soldier _ about to walk into an  _ Earthling party.” _

“It’s a Halloween party! Everyone’s gonna be lookin’ a bit strange.”

Krolia hesitated, glancing over her husband’s attire. He was dressed in a skintight suit too, but his was not meant for combat. Instead, it was marked with a crude outline of a human skeleton. She had to admit that he  _ did _ look strange in it. Apparently it was traditional for this one day of the year that all the humans dress up as monsters or other unusual creatures and go around asking one another for candy. It was a bizarre custom, but having seen several groups of humans doing it on their way to this… ‘Halloween party,’ it did seem to be normal, at least for tonight. 

The Galra woman startled a little bit as Kolt wrapped an arm around her shoulders, his smile gentle. “We don’ have ta go if you don’ wanna. But I would appreciate the chance to introduce ya to my friends.”

And… that’s how he managed to talk her into this. With a sigh, Krolia reached up and pressed the release on her helmet, pulling it off and exposing her purple skin and yellow eyes to the rapidly-darkening sky. “Let’s just get this over with then,” she muttered.

Kolt chuckled, took her hand, and gently led her into the fire station.

“Kolt! You made it, man!” a voice called, drawing her eyes to a short, burly man waving them over, dressed up as… wait, was he a piece of bacon? 

“Hey, Steve,” her husband beamed in turn, approaching him.

“And who’s this?” the man grinned, turning to her.

“Uh…” Krolia managed eloquently, still thrown off by the bacon costume.

“This is my wife, Krolia,” Kolt grinned, pulling her forward.

“So we finally get to meet the mystery woman?” another man called, pushing past ‘Steve’. He was wearing a black and white jumpsuit with a massive, bright red bow at the throat and a red-and-white striped hat so tall that it was leaning to one side. “Tom,” he smiled, extending a hand towards her. 

“Krolia,” the Galra woman managed in reply, automatically taking his forearm in turn. She remembered a moment too late that she should have taken his hand instead, but after a moment of surprise, Tom just smiled again. 

“That’s one killer costume you’ve got there,” Steve called, eyes briefly sweeping over her uniform. “It must’ve taken awhile to put it together. And then there’s Kolt here just throwing on the same thing he wears every year.”

“Like yer one ta talk,” Kolt snorted. “I’ve seen you wear that same costume at least three years in a row. Oh Tom, did your wife and the little one make it this year?”

“Yeah, they did! Here, Krolia, I’ll introduce you!”

“O-Okay,” Krolia managed as Tom led her further into the crowd, towards a woman in a red shirt and pants with a blue wig, holding a child with a matching outfit on her hip. On her chest was a white circle with the words ‘Thing 1’ on it, while the child had one that read ‘Thing 2’.

“Mary! Meet Krolia, Kolt’s wife!”

“Oh thank goodness I’m not the only plus-one here!” the woman laughed as she turned towards them, lifting her sleepy child a little bit higher on her hip. “That’s an incredible costume; you’re even wearing contact lenses!”

“Thank you.”

The rest of the night continued much the same way, with various individuals commenting on the intricacy of Krolia’s ‘costume’ and chatting with her about life and playing games that didn’t really make sense to her but everyone seemed to enjoy, like eating donuts off of strings or shoving one’s face into a bucket of water to try and snag a floating apple, or carving pumpkins with faces and voting whose was scariest. By the time everyone went home around midnight, Krolia found herself relaxing, laughing along with Kolt’s friends and a few other friends she had made, like Mary and another woman named Emily, who insisted that the three of them exchange phone numbers.

_ “We can be like a support group!”  _ she had declared enthusiastically.  _ “The Firemen’s Wives Association!” _

_ “That sounds like a bad chick flick,”  _ Mary had laughed,  _ “but it would be nice to have some more friends.” _

“So was that so bad?” Kolt asked as they waved goodbye and climbed onto his bike to head home.

“Fine fine, I’ll admit that I had fun,” Krolia sighed, chuckling quietly as she leaned into her husband’s back.

“Enough fun to do it again next year?”

“Perhaps.”

.oOo.

“Mommy, why aren’t you in your costume yet?” Keith complained as he ran into hers and Kolt’s bedroom. “Dad and I are waiting downstairs!”

“Uh, sorry, hunny,” Krolia called from the bathroom, “I just need another minute!”

“That’s what you said last time! What’s taking so long?!” the five year old grumbled, throwing open the door to reveal his bright red costume, fire-painted cape and all. His dark eyes widened in surprise. “Whoa, Mommy, you look  _ weird,” _ he gaped.

Krolia sighed, setting aside the makeup she’d been unsuccessfully trying to blend into her purple skintone past the thin layer of equally-purple fuzz common to all Galra women. All she’d managed to accomplish was giving herself a weirdly mottled look not unlike she’d been going for with the matching ‘zombie family’ costumes the three of them had done a few years previously. She had always made a point of wearing costumes that wouldn’t seem out of place with her strange skin coloring, more often than not just going as herself, but this year Keith was five years old, opinionated, and wanted them to go trick-or-treating as the trio of superheroes in the new cartoon he’d been watching.

Hence the attempt to make herself look a little more human and a little less alien.

“I’m sorry Keith,” she sighed, kneeling down and reaching out to pull her son into a gentle hug. “I’m not sure I can make myself look enough like Thunder Lady to go as her this year.”

Her little boy cocked his head curiously to one side. “Why not?”

“Because Thunder Lady has skin like you and daddy, and I have purple skin.”

“So? Just go with purple skin.”

Krolia blinked. “But people will think I’m wearing two costumes.”

“Why would they think that?” Keith frowned, expression puckering in confusion.

“Remember what daddy and I discussed with you before? There aren’t other people that look like me. That’s why I have to stay inside except for Halloween.”

“But today you  _ can  _ go outside. So why do you have to hide how you look?”

Krolia blinked at her five year old’s serious expression. Then she laughed. “Okay. Okay sure, why not,” she chuckled. “Go on and wait with daddy while I take this makeup off. I’ll be there soon, okay?”

“Okay!” Keith beamed, throwing his arms around her neck to hug her tightly before scampering back downstairs to wait. 

Still laughing quietly, Krolia stood up and turned on the sink to begin the process of washing the makeup out of her fur. Ten minutes later, Krolia walked downstairs, purple-skinned, yellow-eyed, and dressed in a dark-blue, skintight suit with a cloud and a lightning bolt down the front. 

“You look lovely,” Kolt grinned, holding out a hand to her, dressed in dark green with a leaf emblem on his chest. Before she could take it, Keith jumped forward and seized her hand, then his daddy’s, grinning up at the both of them. 

“Ready to go, Mommy?”

Krolia smiled, then leaned down to plant a kiss on top of her baby boy’s head, a low purr that he returned humming in the back of her throat. “I’m ready.”

Keith was right. This was the one night a year when she could go out and just… be herself with her family.

Why waste it worrying about what anyone else thought? 


	3. Thunder

Keith startled awake as lightning burst across the sky and thunder crackled through the air. Something in the house felt… dark. Scary. Whimpering softly, the child pulled his blanket a little higher around his chin, pressing his face into his pillow. Another crack of thunder sounded, and he felt the darkness hit him again, somehow even louder and more scary than before. He bit his lip and poked his head out of his little cocoon of blankets, peeking at the window as it was pelted with rain. 

He was a whole four years old now. He was a big boy. He could handle a little noise, right?

Another crack and another wave of  _ dark _ pulled a little squeak from his throat. 

Something was wrong, but he wasn’t certain what it could be. 

Before the next spark of lightning could flash across the sky, the boy had scrambled out of bed, dragging his blanket across the floor with him. The next time the dark hit him, he felt it coming from Mommy’s room. The door was partially open, so Keith peeked inside. 

Mommy was sitting on the edge of the bed, her head bowed and her hands covering her ears. As another crack of thunder filled the air, she jerked in surprise, her breathing quick and scared. “It’s not real,” she mumbled, her voice muffled by her hands. “You’re okay. There are no Galra. You’re on Earth. You’re safe.”

That dark feeling… Was it coming from her?

“Mommy?” Keith whispered. She didn’t seem to hear him, continuing to whisper to herself about how she was safe and on Earth. The boy bit his lip nervously, but pushed the door open, tip-toeing inside and crawling up onto the bed. “Mommy?” he called again, reaching out to touch her shoulder. 

Mommy gasped, jumping again and turning towards him with her hands raised, her eyes wide. “K-Keith!” she whispered. “A-Are you okay?”

Keith bit his lip again, then reached out to wrap his arms around her neck, pressing his face under her chin and purring quietly, the same way she did for him when he felt sick. “Don’t be scared, Mommy.”

Slowly, Mommy reached out and hugged him back, pulling him close and purring softly in turn. The next time the thunder clapped, Keith didn’t feel the same darkness that he had before, and Mommy didn’t jump the same way she had, but she still felt stiff.

“It’s okay, Mommy. I’m here. You don’t have to be scared.”

Mommy’s purring redoubled as she lay back down on the bed, cuddling him close. “Thank you, Keith,” she murmured, gently running her fingers through his hair. “I love you.”

Keith smiled, snuggling into her chest and pulling his blanket over them both. 

“I love you too, Mommy.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to explore the idea of Krolia having PTSD from her time in the Blades, as well as how Keith's quintessence sensitivity might have affected him when he was really little, and this is what happened. :)


	4. Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'mma just... drop this and show myself out... (I haven't abandoned this series. Covid just sucks, ya'll.)

“Mr. Kogane, thank you for coming,” the blond, middle-aged woman smiled, rising to her feet as he stepped into the office.

“Good t’be here,” Kolt smiled back, shaking her hand. “Thanks fer accommodatin’ me. I hope wasn’ too muchuva bother; I know it’s late.”

“No no, it’s quite alright,” the woman smiled kindly, shaking her head. “It’s my job as Keith’s teacher to accommodate his parents. I’m just glad you could make it at all. Well, let’s get started shall we?”

“Sure.”

“Well, Keith does very well in school academically. He’s a smart kid, although he is somewhat prone to aggression. Which, actually segues into a question that I had regarding Keith’s home life.”

“Oh?” Kolt frowned, tilting his head to one side and hoping that his slight jolt of nervousness wasn’t too noticeable. 

“Yes. Forgive me, I know that you work as a firefighter and can’t be home very often, and that your wife also has a job that keeps her busy, which is why she couldn’t attend parent-teacher conferences, but… Well, I couldn’t help but overhear Keith talking with some other boys at recess. He seemed to believe that his mother was some sort of… alien?”

“That right?”

“Yes. Normally I would have brushed it off as children being children, but he also drew this the other day. I suppose I’m just a little bit concerned--seeing all of the scrapes and bruises he always seems to have and his tendency towards violence--that referring to his mother as an ‘alien’ is just some sort of coping mechanism for something more… worrisome.”

Kolt took the sheet of paper with his stomach sinking. Across the top was a simple prompt to draw your family. Clearly depicted was Keith in his favorite red superhero shirt, smiling and holding hands with Kolt in his black tanktop and jeans, and Krolia, purple-skinned with a white top and sweats. (Almost as worrisome as his wife’s appearance was the big blue cat drawn in the background, but Keith’s teacher shouldn’t know anything that would make that significant.) 

Well, at least he and Krolia had prepared for this possibility.

Kolt forced a quiet laugh. “He fergot the suit,” he smiled, handing back the picture.

“What do you mean?” Keith’s teacher frowned.

“Almos’ every year, my wife Krolia dresses as an alien fer Halloween. It’s one o’ Keith’s faverite things we do as a family. On top o’ which, my wife’s a pilot. We like ta joke how she’s like an alien, since she flies ships.”

“That… would make sense,” Keith’s teacher nodded slowly. “And… the aggression?”

Kolt fumbled.

 _Dang it; he was bad at improvising._

“Ah… yeah. We’ve noticed that at home, too. It’s just rough-housin’ really, but the kid doesn’ seem ta know ’is own strength. We’re hopin’ it’s just a phase, but w’re talkin’ about takin’ ‘im ta therapy if it keeps up. Make sure it’s no’ an anger management issue.”

“I see,” his teacher frowned, although the doubt remained in her eyes. “If you do send him to therapy, please be sure to let me know, alright? I want to make sure we’re doing everything we can in the classroom to support him.”

“Thanks fer that,” Kolt smiled, hoping that it didn’t look too strained. 

.oOo.

_“Whoosh!!”_ Keith cheered, his toy spaceship flying through the air at the fastest speeds a five year old could run around a cramped living room. Krolia chuckled, watching from the kitchen while she prepared dinner. She glanced towards the front door as she heard it open and close, a call of “I’m home!” eliciting a squeal of excitement from Keith. 

“Daddy!” he cheered, skidding around the corner and slamming into Kolt’s legs judging by the muffled _Oof!_ from the other room, followed by a low chuckle. Krolia briefly wiped her hands on her sweats before she rounded the corner with a small smile, listening to Keith babble away in a mixture of Galra and English about everything he’d done today. Kolt hummed and nodded along, but she already knew her husband didn’t understand half of what Keith said when he began mixing Galra into his speech. 

“Evenin’, love,” Kolt smiled, leaning in to kiss her cheek. 

“You’re stressed,” Krolia noted immediately.

“Tha’ obvious, huh?” he sighed. “I’ll tell ya’ after dinner.”

“Alright then.”

Dinner was a boisterous affair, as usual. Keith was every bit a Galra in terms of his raw energy. It’s probably why he had some many bruises; he never stopped moving and rarely looked where he was going. Their frequent hikes out in the canyons probably didn’t help, either. 

“So? What’s the matter?” she finally asked after Keith had been put to bed and she and Kolt could just quietly clean the dishes together. 

Kolt released a long sigh, all of the tension that he had slowly lost over the course of the night returning in an instant. “I think… the school thinks yer beatin’ Keith. Or I am.”

“What?” Krolia blinked, startled and a little bewildered. “I mean, of course I beat him in most competitive situations; I’m at least-”

“No, I mean they think yer abusin’ ’im.” 

“ _Abusing?”_ Krolia repeated with no small amount of horror.

“Yeah. They see the bruises an’ aggression as signs of abuse, an’ ’im callin’ you a alien a copin’ mechanism. I doubt it ’elps that they’ve never met you.”

Krolia groaned softly, leaning against the edge of the sink, her hands still covered in suds. This was the worst possible kind of attention they could get. She knew that Keith acted more aggressive than the typical human child; in a Galra society, the leader of any social group was the strongest among them, be it physically, intellectually, or by whichever other measure was being ranked in that moment. Even if he’d never lived in that kind of an environment, the mindset was genetically built into Keith’s cognitive functions. It was part of the reason that the Galra had always been a militaristic style, even long before the formation of the empire.

“So what do we do?” she asked weakly. 

“We migh’ need to consider therapy for ’im.”

Krolia’s grip tightened on the countertop. “You know my concerns with that route.”

“I do,” Kolt nodded, placing his hand over the top of hers. “Keith’s still a kid, though. Kids often play at that kinda thing. We’ll keep workin’ with ’im, remind ’im it’s not safe ta tell people about you. But in the meantime, we send ’im to therapy to work on the aggressive behavior, an’ then at the end o’ the school year, maybe we can think abou’ ’omeschoolin’ ’im.”

“You know my concerns about _that,_ too,” Krolia frowned at her husband. “I don’t know enough about Earth’s culture and history to teach him what he needs to know to function in an Earth society, Kolt.”

“He may not always be on Earth though,” Kolt reminded her. “An’ you wan’ed ta train ’im fer the Blades some day either way.”

“He’s still too young.”

“But he won’ always be. Anyway, we don’t haveta choose righ’ now. We have time ta think it through,” he murmured, gently wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her from behind. 

A low purr began instinctively in Krolia’s throat as she leaned his embrace. “...Right,” she agreed with a quiet sigh. 

_We have time…_


End file.
